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An official IRC channel has been created for the OrthodoxWiki: #orthodoxwiki on freenode.net. The channel is a place for live discussion about work on the wiki. Please feel free to use it as an addendum to wiki discussion via article talk pages.

IRC Tutorial

In order to use IRC you must have an IRC client. This is, generally, a small piece of software installed locally on your computer. IRC is sometimes considered the grandfather of modern instant messaging. You may be more familiar with instant messaging using software packages like AOL, Yahoo!, or MSN Instant Messager.

You can easily find a list of IRC clients available for your operating system. The following tutorial assumes you will be using ChatZilla as an extension to the Mozilla Firefox internet browser.

Using IRC with Mozilla Firefox

Step 1. Installing ChatZilla

An IRC extension can be downloaded for Mozilla Firefox. Follow these instructions to get started:

A prompt should appear, reading something like "A web site is requesting permission to install the following item:"

Select Install Now

Restart Firefox

Step 2. Using ChatZilla for the first time

Open Firefox

Select Tools then ChatZilla from the menu bar. This should open up a new window with ChatZilla.

When you first connect to a server with ChatZilla, you are prompted to enter a nickname. We suggest using the nickname/username you have on the OrthodoxWiki, but you can user whichever nickname you like or is available.

You should then see a command line with a blinking cursor. You will converse and type commands in this box

The command line is used for chatting and entering in software commands. To get the most out of your IRC experience it is probably a good idea to become familiar with some of the commands. Many commands start with /. So to execute a command you would type /command or /other-command. The following is a series of steps to help you register your preferred nickname when using IRC. There will be directions and then commands to type in.

If you have not already, change your nickname to the one you would like register:

/nick your-preferred-name

your-preferred-name is the nickname you would like to go by, e.g. Spike, peggy, or IRCnewbie1

Be aware, someone may have already registed the nick you would like. The system will let you know if the name is already registered or if an unregistered user is currently using the nick

If someone is currently using the nick you would like, but has not registered it, there are a couple of options. One option is to choose another nick. Another option is to wait until they sign off, switch to that nick (using /nick your-preferred-name), and register it.

Register your IRC nick:

/msg nickserv register your-password

Add a valid email address.

To keep your email address private, first mark it as hidden:

/msg nickserv set hide email on

Set your email address:

/msg nickserv set email your-email@example.com

Consider registering an alternate IRC nick, using the same password.

E.g. add an underline ("_") to your primary nick. For example, if your primary nick is foo, register foo_ as an alternate nick, if it's available.

While using your alternate nick, link it to your primary nick:

/msg nickserv link <primary-nick> <your-password>

You could also configure ChatZilla to identify itself to nickserv automatically whenever it connects to freenode. This way you don't have to type in your password each time.

/desc can be used to briefly describe yourself to others, e.g. /desc Nick is a school teacher in Boises, Idaho. He has a website located at http://example.com